Student digs
Hi Joanne,
By now you would probably have read my article in the latest API magazine (I wrote it for Geoff'), so I hope your questions are just about answered, but if not, I'll give them a go ...
1. Depends on the council and the property. If you are simply renting a residential property by the room, then you should be OK to go ahead pretty much as you would with any residential IP. With 9 people in our place, I wanted to make sure it was safe, so we spend some extra money on fire detection systems that complied with council regulations for such places as lodges, small commercial buildings, boarding houses ets. For the sake of a couple of thousand dollars, I'd recommend looking into fire detection.
2.
Furniture. All our rooms had a minimum of a bed, desk, chair, clock radio, fridge, light, and wardrobes. Some had single beds, most had double or queen sized - good for the kids to stretch out on. The fridges are a must I think to save 'milk going walkabout' problems (remember back to your own Uni days !!). Some of the rooms have lounge chairs or dressers or bedsides. A friend of mine also put TVs in his rooms (13 bedder), but I opted for a nice widescreen TV in the common room instead.
As for the common room furniture, we have a very heavy duty leather lounge, dining table and chairs, coffee table, TV, video and cabinet. The kitchen has a stove, microwave, toaster, kettle - all the usual stuff. Important for the kitchen is 9 lockable double cupboards. A good tip for your washing machine - rent it. We went through two machines in 8 months before I decided to rent one. We have then since been through another one - but as it is rented, it just gets replaced by the rental company. Another good tip for you - supply each room with decent column oil heaters. It saves the kids buying their own electric fan heaters that end up costing you a gazilliion dollars in electricity. It also stops them buying death trap bar heaters that also chew electricity and cause unwelcome fires.
Dryer?? Maybe. We didn't, trying to encourage the kids to use the clothes line. In summer they use the clothes line, but in winter the common area tends to look like a Chinese laundry. Up to you.
We also get the house cleaned every fortnight and the gardens maintained. The kids are actually pretty good at keeping the place clean - you just need to identify the 'leaders' or the clean ones and have them work for you at encouraging the rest of the kids to clean up after themselves. The kids appreciate that we put the effort into giving the place a good clean every two weeks, and are happy to simply keep it neat and tidy. A bit of give and take works well in this case.
3.
Rental agreements. Right now, we have the place managed by a Property Manager, so each of the kids are on individual leases with individually lodges bonds (6 weeks). Works very well, but now they are classed as tenants, and have all the rights of tenants. Previously we managed the palce ourselves, and maintained mastery over the house. Thus, the kids were all classed as 'lodgers' (not tenants). This meant they were not covered by the RT Act, and we could pretty much do what we wanted. We used to collect a whole semesters rent up front - good for cashflow, and collect 2 - 4 weeks bond, depending on the lodger. You need to consider the pros and cons of each option. If you go along the Property Manager route (good idea), then have them all on individual leases. That way, you deal with them individually and fairly at the Tribunal if you have any dramas.
4.
Semester breaks. There are a few options. We offer half price rents during the break. Our students are all either country NSW, interstate or international students studying at Newcastle Uni. Some of them have pretty much settled in Newcastle and stay for most of the year, returning home for a week or two at Christmas / Easter. Even these ones we offer half price - just to be equitable. Some others want to go away for the three months over the end of year break, and by offering half price rents, they can maintain their room without the hassle of packing it up and the cost they would have to incur anyway of moving / storing. You just need to factor the lower rentals over the break into your bottom line and cashflow calculations.
Other options include holding the place vacant and using the time to repair/maintain/renovate, or letting your rooms on the short-term market if appropriate.
That's got to be far too much for now !!
Pete Noake
aka Pierre
http://www.steadmanlodge.com
